One Career, Multiple Paths

As data science is a new field, few if any current practitioners went to school with aspirations of entering this specific profession. That may change as demand and appeal grow, but thus far data scientists began as data analysts, computer programmers, mathematicians, and other related professions. Making the leap from a related field to data science requires professional experience for sure, but mainly it calls for higher education.

The number of higher education options in the data science field is quickly growing as universities sense the demand for graduates with this particular skill set. American university offerings range from free online courses to intensive six- to nine-month certificates, to concentrated degree programs at the master’s and PhD levels.

The good news is that there are presently more opportunities for data scientists than there are qualified professionals. The bad news is that the large corporations looking to hire data scientists are looking for the crème de la crème in the field. Those in line for the big opportunities have advanced schooling, relevant professional experience, and expertise in a number of disciplines, including data analysis, engineering, computer science, applied mathematics, statistics, machine learning, and business analytics.

Here are some helpful tips to help you stand out from the other data scientist candidates: